Polish PM accuses protesters of trying to overthrow government

Monday saw the fourth consecutive day of anti-government protests and a sit-in of opposition MPs in parliament, amid a political crisis sparked by planned new rules on media access to the legislature.

In an interview in the wSieci weekly, Szydło said, referring to those and earlier protests: “This wave of hate which is pouring out, the omnipresent aggression, quarrels provoked one after the other, this is simply an attempt to overthrow the government and reverse the outcome of the election” of late 2015, in which PiS swept to power.

She told wSieci in an interview published on Monday: “I think that those who say that these [incidents] are no coincidence are right.”

Asked if the opposition wants to stir up emotions in order to lead to an outbreak of violence, Szydło said: "Unfortunately, that cannot be ruled out."

She added: "I think this will be one of my most important tasks in the coming year: to explain to Poles that they should not be afraid.”

In the wSieci interview, she continued: “We are carrying out the changes which Poles demanded when we met them in the [election] campaign. The budget is stable, we have a good programme."

(pk)

Source: PAP